Make lawyer use transparent

New York state has spent a staggering $3 billion on lawsuits and litigation over the past decade (“Lawsuits vanish on your dime,” Feb. 23), and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. New York’s local governments pay on average another $1 billion for lawsuits annually, and New York City is on the hook for half-a-billion for slip and falls, medical malpractice claims, and other lawsuits — every penny of which comes from taxpayers’ pockets.

Unfortunately, as the Times Union highlights, the state is increasingly employing private attorneys, who are happy to stick taxpayers with outrageous bills. While the state’s use of private sector legal services makes sense in some instances, there is currently little transparency regarding the use of private attorneys, creating a potential for abuse and conflict of interest.

Many other states have set strict guidelines to ensure that contracts with private attorneys are both cost-effective and fully transparent. Many states also limit the percentage that attorneys may collect for fees; New York has such a system, but it is limited to medical malpractice cases. The state must strive to use private sector attorneys only when absolutely necessary — that’s what we have an elected attorney general for, after all. Likewise, we should ensure that contracts with private attorneys are fully transparent and enact reasonable limits on fees that can be collected. Our taxpayers and citizens deserve no less.